A Life's Adjustment: Another Story
by Kare Uta
Summary: A little sequel to A Life's Adjustment. This time following Gunji and Kiriwar. Oneshot.


The walk home was a lot quieter than he had expected it would. It wasn't what he had been expecting at all. He had expected that he woud be happy, and that the walk home after finding Tama would be louder and more pleasant. This had been far from his ideal. His chest was heavy with discomfort, and even if he passed off the stinging in his eyes to the dusty terrain he walked through he still knew better.

The door to the makeshift home he shared with Kiriwar creaked open with just a brief turn of the handle and a small nudge forward. Despite living in a bad area there was no need for more security than just themselves.

"No luck?" Kiriwar growled, looking at his shivering lonely form.

Gunji didn't dignify that rough question with an equally rough response; feeling like he couldn't do so even if he wanted to. Instead he pulled out of his red coat, tossing it on the floor by the door to the shack they called a house.

"What's with you?"

"I found him."

"And? Was he dead?"

"Don't say that!" Gunji lashed out, raising his claws.

"Was he then?"

Gunji growled, shaking his head furiously and pouncing in Kiriwar's direction; pinning him hard to the ground with the claws to his throat. "Shut up!"

Kiriwar grabbed onto his arm, dragging him onto the floor and switching their positions abruptly, "Calm down!" He reached for his pipe iron, pinning down Gunji's thrashing arms by his wrists. "Calm down!"

Gunji stopped shifting as much, growling while his expression held such distaste for the position he had been thrown into. Papa he could handle being yelled at by, he knew the coward could do nothing but throw hissy fits, but this was one of the first times Jijii yelled at him like this. He didn't like it.

"I didn't ask to get killed!" He pulled Gunji's claws off, sliding them along the ground and far out of his reach into the corner of the room.

"Get off me!"

"First calm down." Kiriwar instructed him. He watched him huff, turn red with anger and frustration, glance elsewhere and even have his eyes burn with moisture. "What's the matter with you?" Gunji tried to let himself relax, dropping his head back down into the solid concrete floor. He winced a bit; his skull was still tender from prior injuries in Toshima. "What happened?"

"I found him."

"Why didn't he come back with you?"

"He was with the kitty-person papa wanted."

"So? What stopped you from grabbing him and bringing him?"

Gunji gave a little shrug, turning his head to the side, "He seemed happy; he was really sick but he was comfortable."

"Look at it as a good thing! This place is small enough."

Gunji growled and began trying to lift his wrists from the giant's bar to fight him. "You're too cold!" He fought hard against him, kicking his legs and kneeing him in the legs.

"Stop it!" When the smaller man refused to stop fighting him he pinned him down with his legs also, "Stay still." Gunji tried another kick, which caused Kiriwar to pin him down that much tighter, and then gave up, dropping his head back onto the ground. Again, he winced loudly. "Stubborn kitty." Kiriwar growled, getting off him and extending his arm to help him up.

Gunji continued to lay there, staring at the ground beside him. Eventually, Kiriwar settled back down on the ground; this time beside him instead of on him.

"If you miss him that much you should go get him back!"

"He's happy!"

"But you are not."

Gunji looked elsewhere again, groaning quietly, "So?"

Kiriwar scoffed, mumbling under his breath, "'So?' he says." He leaned over, gripping his hand in his and using the leverage of the rest of his arm to pull Gunji off the ground and into his arms. "You're a fool."

"You're a jerk." He pounded his fists hard against his chest, but knew he had no way of hurting the giant.

The two lay back on the mattress on the ground; Kiriwar began smoking a cigarette, glancing over before putting it to Gunji's lips for a drag.

A soft indirect kiss before a rough direct one.

Two days later Gunji woke to the feeling of cold stickiness on his cheek; before his unfocused eyes was a puppy, an obvious stray by the black soot that was stuck to his thin coat. He lay back, relaxed, pulling the puppy off the sheets and onto his chest, smothering it with warmth.

The house was empty. It wasn't until after a while did Kiriwar come back, heavy steps having been enough to wake him if he hadn't already done so. Kiriwar only gave him a small glance before he turned back to putting the fresh fruit into a cupboard.

Gunji approached him subtly but quickly, embracing him tightly from behind and pressing his cheek to the broad back. "Thanks, Jijii." He whispered almost inaudibly.

Kiriwar patted the arm that held him, grumbling, "I made a promise."

That was true, he had in fact made a promise, and had never intended to break it.

He just had no intention of telling Gunji that the puppy had wandered in all on his own that morning and had nothing to do with him.

**A/N: Maybe something a bit subtly…comical? Well I thought it was cute…in a Gunji and Kiriwar sort of way. **

**Please leave, at least, a little review to let me know what you thought of it. **

**Thank you for reading! **


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